Pair ‘set equipment company office on fire’

Two men set an equipment rental company on fire after stealing Dh50,000 worth of its property and a cheque, prosecutors told Dubai Criminal Court yesterday.

The Pakistani men, aged 26 and 30, allegedly poured fuel around the company offices in Al Quoz industrial area, set it alight then escaped.

They were charged with setting fire to an inhabited building, stealing a cheque, forging and using the forged cheque and unlawfully obtaining the cheque’s cash amount, Dh116,000.

The older of the two, who was also charged with stealing equipment, was present in court and denied all charges. His co-defendant did not attend the hearing.

The company owner told police that he left the UAE briefly in November last year and left the 30-year-old to take care of the business in his absence.

“When I returned the following month, I discovered that he had stolen some equipment. I asked him to return it then told his mother about it when he did not return the equipment,” the 32-year-old owner said.

On January 4, after he reported the man to police, his property went up in flames.

“I suspected that he did it as revenge for my reporting him to police and for telling his mother,” said the owner, who is also from Pakistan.

Police arrested the man as he was trying to flee the country from Dubai International Airport. The next hearing will be on July 17.